Timelines: A Terrance Line Novel
by Asuterisuku
Summary: A boy of 15, his past a riddle, and with a huge secret, tries to fight back against Itex after his brother is kidnapped by Erasers, and his parents are murdered. But something goes wrong. Rated T for violence and strong language.
1. Prologue

PROLOGUE

A Journey through Time

August, 2030

I've done it! I've discovered the secret to time travel! I will no longer be known solely as Itexicon's greatest geneticist, but I am now the master of time. But now I must go back, and rescue this world from the hellhole it has become.

Itex has taken over, and they have destroyed everything; after all, Operation By-Half was a success, and no one but Itex employees were deemed useful, or necessary for progress. I got in by the skin of my teeth, and I'll be damned if I let it continue. Twenty five years later, I know what I must do.

February, 1991

In a hospital in Toronto, a young woman of twenty eight has given birth. The Caesarean Section was successful. However, the unconscious woman on the bed does not know that. She believes that her firstborn son has died in childbirth. She does not know that the child was already en route to a laboratory in the middle of Lake Ontario.

I saw the child, and knew immediately that he was what I had come for.

I was looking at a newborn version of myself.


	2. Chapters 1 to 3

_**PART ONE**_

**Life in High School**

1

High School. The bane of my own and so many other people's existences... Or so we thought. A relatively bad experience for me, who was a loner beyond all reason, what with being antisocial and exempt from Gym for reasons I would rather not confide in anyone at this point in time, sitting in the back of every classroom, yet always getting everything done right, hearing the teacher and seeing the board perfectly.

To make it short, I'm a freak. I've been a freak all my life, and I've known it. But nothing could have prepared any of us for what happened at the end of my Grade Ten year.

I'm Terrence Line. Pleased to meet you.

2

Okay... This may be a stupid question to ask, but is it in any way possible to be in two places at once? I was sitting on the roof of Westside Secondary School in the growing town of Orangeville, Ontario (I have special permission to be there due to... circumstances), studying for the upcoming exams when I saw myself down in the courtyard. Okay, so he didn't look exactly like me, what with the super thick glasses and the sharper features, but there was no doubt about it: This man that I was looking at, was myself.

However, there appeared to be a difference of age; while I was fifteen, the man looked to be about fifty. But there was one other thing: We had the same dark blonde hair, and striking blue eyes. I hadn't much time to ponder this: I had to get to my best class that year, Science. I knew that the teacher was out of town, and I was wondering who would supply. Little did I know that that would be the last period I would ever attend as I was then.

3

I walked into the class, and everyone in the room immediately fell completely silent. I swear it was the creepiest thing I had ever seen. For a second I thought my secret had been revealed, but then the man standing at the desk coughed. It was me.

"Mr. Line. I am your supply teacher, Harold Straight. I would like to talk to you after class regarding your constant tardiness." He had a look in his eye that suggested otherwise. "Now class, I would like you to open your textbooks to pg..."


	3. Chapters 4 and 5

4

The class passed by uneventfully, with a few short glances back towards me. These kids were obviously not used to two of the same guy being in the same room, and frankly, I'm not totally cool with it either, considering that it's ME! I had already finished the day's work. Three years ago. Don't ask me how.

My iPod's headphones were stuck in my ears. I was listening to some good old Guns N' Roses, and I was buried in a good book that I could totally relate to, when the bell rang, signalling the end of the day. I remembered what Mr. 'Straight' had said though, so I remained in my seat.

"You need to get out of this town, now," he said after everyone else had left, and he had locked the door.

5

Okay, that's not what he actually said. In fact, he said just about everything but. And I didn't like what I heard.

"As you may have already guessed, I am not Harold Straight," he said. At least he was smart enough to come clean. "My real name is Timothy Line, born in February of nineteen ninety one. People who work with me often call me Timeline, which is actually rather fitting for you see, I have mastered the science of time travel. I know why you've always been a loner, and I know every last secret of your childhood, and your body, for one simple reason: I am you."

I was beginning to question him. "If you're me, then how come we don't share names?"

"I work for a company you may or may not know. A company named Itexicon." A sudden chill ran down my spine. I had heard that name before. They were the kind of company who had their fingers in everything from drugs, to computers. Anyone who's played the Resident Evil games, think Umbrella.

"Itex has been performing genetic experiments for over one hundred years." This is when I began to notice something creepy. I knew every last word he said, before he said it. It was like I was reading his mind, or something. I continued to listen anyway.

"You might have heard about this: Itex had a plan to reduce the world's population to almost nothing. In the hell that I came from, they succeeded. In a year's time, the original operation in Germany will be foiled by the efforts of the country's youth and the work of six kids in particular." I felt a sudden chill. I knew what he was saying. "However, the teenagers of this country are naïve: They will ignore the calls to battle put out by one of the kids online, and Itex will live."

"So that's why you came back? To raise our awareness?" I asked, though I already knew the answer. He returned to make a hero.


	4. Chapters 6 to 8

6

In his head, I learned my own history: I was kidnapped at birth by Itex, this particular operation headed by myself. After my genetics were changed, Timeline simply helped me disappear from Itex, and returned me to my parents. However, when they got me back, the boy with my name was already dead, with a tombstone and everything.

So they came up with this solution. I was not Timothy Line, but his twin brother Terrance. They believed that this would not only allow me to live relatively normally, but would put me off of Itex's radar. But they were wrong.

They were dead wrong.

7

My family is annoying at some times, but they understand the importance of my secrecy. Sure they bug me about it all the time when we're alone, but when there's company over, their lips are sealed.

My mother, Elizabeth Line, is a bit overweight, but cares for me and my brother to the point of absolute trust.

This brings me to my brother, Aaron Line. He's a good friend, and the kind of guy you would want on your side in a fight, even though he's calm most of the time.

And then, of course, there's my father, Gordon Line. He runs his own business, but he's home all the time working on some project or another. He's a nice man, who is stern at times, but always knows what's best, logically and for the heart.

But now, I don't know why it matters. Perhaps I'm only telling you this so that this next part will hurt you as much as it does me.

8

I la...uh...arrived at home after school. It was relatively late in the day, so I didn't really see anyone. But when I got to the driveway, I could immediately tell something was wrong. It was too quiet. Normally, when I approached the door, my two dogs would usually be barking their heads off in excitement. Instead, the only sound I heard was the wind. Then I noticed the problem.

The door had been forced in. The frame was completely busted, although someone had tried to conceal it. I went inside, a chill running down my spine. When I reached the living room, I was horrified.

Whoever it was hadn't even bothered trying to conceal the bodies.

I saw two strangers standing there in the living room, holding my brother, bound and gagged, and obviously unconscious. Then I saw what was past them. My parents were lying dead on the ground, torn open by the claws of some weird creature.

The two strangers then spoke. "Come with us, bird-boy, or the same thing will happen to your brother," they said in unison, observing my horrified gaze at the bodies of my parents. But I couldn't listen. My thoughts wouldn't allow it. If I tried to take on both at once, myself and my brother would be dead, and what's worse: They know my secret. All these years, I thought that no one knew, but now my confidence has been crushed. So I did the only thing left to me.

I flew.


	5. Chapters 9 and 10

9

There may be those of you sitting there, staring at the page, or at your screen thinking 'Maybe that's a typo. He must have meant 'fled." Nope. No typo there. I turned around, ran out the door, unfurled my wings and took off. Which is exactly what I've been hiding from you this whole time.

But now that the secret's out, I'm free to tell my story without any form of censorship, and if you hadn't noticed said censorship, which is so painfully obvious, you are officially an idiot.

In any case, being in the air felt great. After flying for a few kilometres, I felt my troubles had disappeared. And when I thought of it that way, they returned like a bullet to my skull. 'I'm now an orphan' was one thought that kept coming back over and over again.

'I've got to save my brother' was the other. Aaron...

However, I had no way of going about this seemingly impossible task. Suddenly, I heard another voice chime up in my head saying "if they knew about you, then this is most likely related to Itex: Apparently, they were more suspicious than we thought." It was Timeline. Apparently, he knows about our mental connection, and has begun exploiting it.

"If Itex is involved, then tell me where to go, seeing as you're their top geneticist."

"So are you," he replied sternly. "In any case, go to the base of the CN Tower. There's something important that I want to show you, but the image isn't staying in my head, for some reason. You're going to have to see it yourself. I trust you can get there quickly."

Indeed I could. I had a decent amount of money, well over three hundred dollars, so while I had decided not to fly through the city with two and a half million people to see my wings, I could get a cab from the edge of the city, and have enough left over for a new DS.

I was astonished by what he had to show me.

10

Inside the tower, there was a trapdoor, leading deep underground. No one noticed us entering, however: There was a two way mirror, and a locked door. We could see them, but they couldn't see us.

"This tunnel leads to the very centre of Lake Ontario, right on the US border, so technically they aren't doing anything illegal," he said, obviously more comfortable using his voice than telepathy. "This is the Canadian headquarters of Itexicon. I'm taking us right into the belly of the beast. There's no way we'll survive if we get into a fight, which is exactly why I'm coming. At the first sign of trouble, however, I'm pulling us right out."

I understood his sentiment, and he was indeed right. While a fight had seemed unavoidable a few minutes ago, I realized that this would be the perfect opportunity to do some reconnaissance, learning about security, the locations of weak areas, escape routes, and most importantly, my brother. I had taken another trick from Timeline. In his mind, I learned to traverse time like the pages of a book. Little did I know that it would be the last thing I ever learned from my older self.


	6. Chapters 11 to 13

_**PART TWO**_

The Death of Time(line, that is)

11

We were nearing the end of the tunnel when Timeline turned to me and said, "we have to make this quick. I felt outside that it was going to rain, (A/N: There really are people who can detect differences in barometric pressure without any form of equipment. I'm one of them.) and I really don't like being wet. It probably isn't best for your wings either." My thoughts exactly. Wings are a huge pain in the ass to get dry. So much, that I can barely stand going for a swim, or getting a shower every morning. But I digress.

We reached a large steel door that marked the end of the tunnel, locked with a number pad. Timeline quickly entered the code, (66820511, as I read inside his mind) and we entered a large room.

Nothing would ever compare to what I saw.

12

It didn't take long to find my brother. He was attached to a surgical bed in the next room, plainly visible through a window, which I think was a two way mirror. And then I looked to my left and right. All I saw were the cages.

At first I thought they were strange dogs, looking out at me, due to the cages, but then I looked closer and saw that they were all human beings. At least, they were at one point. I saw other kids with wings, whimpering at us, and I couldn't stand it. Aaron wasn't the only person I had to save.

Something then caught my eye, and when I turned to see it, all I saw was the window looking in on my brother, and as I turned my head again, that window was replaced by more cages, and I realized what was happening.

I could see through walls.

And that was when, for the second time that day, my hopes were crushed.

13

Death is unpleasant. Especially when it isn't you that's dying.

Timeline had gathered all the information he needed from a nearby computer — which I quickly stored away in my head — and we were heading towards the door. But when it opened, I was greeted by a familiar face.

Or, rather two.

It was the pair that had murdered my parents, and had ruined my life, but something was different about them. They were changing before my eyes. Their faces elongated, and fur was erupting across their bodies. "Werewolves!" I cried aloud.

"Erasers," Timeline corrected in my head, and suddenly something clicked. Do you remember the book I was reading earlier? Do you want to take a guess at the title? Never mind, I'll tell you. It was Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment, by James Patterson. Or, at least I thought James wrote it. Apparently, he got all his info directly from the source. But there was something different about these erasers. And then I knew.

There were oversized wings sprouting from their backs.

* * *

I enjoyed writing this. Would anyone like to take a stab at who is going to die?(pun intended) In any case, This takes place in mid 2006, and School's Out - Forever was not at that point released, so while I've read up to Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports, the flying erasers are a new revelation to Terrance.

Disclaimer: Maximum Ride is not mine, and nor are Erasers. Those are property of James Patterson.


	7. Chapters 14 to 16

14

I stared for a few seconds in disbelief. I knew from what I'd read that Erasers are bad, but these guys were absolutely merciless. It was then obvious that Itex was no longer in good terms with Timeline, for the first thing the twin Erasers did after shifting forms was tear his head off.

Have you ever seen someone you have a psychic connection with die? I'll tell you one thing: It's damn unpleasant, and that's the understatement of the millennium. Everything he felt, I felt. Apparently, having your head ripped off is painful. Painful enough to knock you out on the spot.

And therefore, obviously, I was knocked out, my last grim thought before the darkness came being _Damn, now I know how Jean Grey felt._

15

I know that last chapter was kind of dark, but it was true. After Timeline died, I felt dead myself.

I didn't know how long I was out, but when I woke up, something felt different. I could hear voices coming from all around me, and I thought that I was just sleeping in class, that my parents, and my other self were still alive, and that my brother wasn't being experimented on in some demented way. But when I opened my eyes, I realized that it was no dream. I was locked in a cage, one of the same dog crates that I saw before I was killed. I turned to hear where the voices were coming from, but no one was talking, and it then became clear to me that the voices were coming from inside. They were the thoughts of those around me.

I could read minds other than my own.

At that point, one thought stuck out to me in particular. _He's waking up!_ Which was followed by the words actually being audible, and a mass of footsteps heading towards my cage. I then heard the thoughts of one who stayed behind, apparently to write in a journal. _August 20, 2006. The experiment is finally awakening..._ Two months.

I had been out for two months.

And there was nobody left to miss me.

16

I was just about ready to give up. It had been two weeks, and I couldn't stand any more of their testing. I had to get out now. And that's when I saw a familiar face.

Aaron Line was roaming freely through the halls of the lab, and in his thoughts, I could find nothing different about him at first. He was still the same annoying tough guy as he was at home. But there had to be some reason that he wasn't in a cage, like me. There definitely had to be something different. And when he turned the corner, I knew what it was.

They had turned my brother into an Eraser.


	8. Chapters 17 to 19

17

Before I continue with what actually happened, I should probably explain a few things.

My brother and I are both trained in the martial arts, and while he only has his green belt, at age thirteen, I am a ninth degree black belt, at fifteen. Perhaps progressing so far so young is an extension of the excess body strength and flexibility required to fly.

Another thing is that the Erasers and other recombinants tend to have an expiration date. It appears on the back of their necks, within a week of the day itself. I'd seen it happen in the short time I was here. They simply stop moving. All motor function ceases, the muscles tense, and they live no more. I already knew from Timeline that I had been spared this fate, but I wasn't so sure about my brother.

Also, I like swords. Always have, always will. Given the choice between a blade and a firearm, I'll probably take the sword, although if I could take both, it would be a different story.

Moving on.

18

When he began to approach my cage, I prepared to 'ask'(if you can call mind control asking) him to open the door and escort me out, but he had other plans. He began to whisper into my cage. His lips weren't moving, but they didn't have to be: He was a ventriloquist.

"I don't have much time left, so I want to redeem myself for what I've done." He had thrown his voice to the cage behind me. He made a quick glance around, to see if anyone was watching, and I saw he was telling the truth. His date had appeared.

"I'm going to release as many of us as I can, starting with you. When I open the door, run. Run like hell, and don't look back. I'm certain you can handle yourself if fighting breaks out." I wasn't so sure at this point. The scientists had been seriously under feeding me, and I felt weak. "The tower exit is blocked, so when you leave the room, head for the south end of the complex, and escape in New York."

_Great._ A sudden chill ran down my spine. _He's pointing me towards the Institute._

19

I thought he was insane at that point. I thought to scan his mind for treachery, but for some reason, I knew I would find none there. I had no choice but to trust him.

And then the door was open.

I immediately jumped out, but there was no way I was leaving Aaron behind after what we had been through, so I began opening more cages. Once everyone was free, we ran. We ran like hell, and didn't look back. But our path was blocked.

The two Erasers who got us into this mess — Yin and Yang, as I now read in their thoughts, fitting considering that even though they looked alike in features, one of them was albino — were standing directly in our path. My brother and I immediately took on a defensive stance, and the fight began promptly.

Yang took a swipe at my head, which I dodged surprisingly easily, and drove a punch into his gut that drove the air out of him with a loud WHOOSH. Wow! I didn't think I still had that kind of strength! I then realized that I was fuelled by rage, and immediately calmed myself down, only to notice that Aaron was not faring as well. Already, he had several large gashes across his furry form.

Mind you, Yin didn't look so good then either, for when I turned to help, a large, debilitating gash suddenly appeared across his left arm.

While he was howling in pain, Aaron took the opportunity to get behind him, and whisper into his ear, "this is for my parents, _Bitch!"_ And then it was over for Yin. With one powerful movement, the Eraser's neck was broken, and he was dead.

I was suddenly afraid that he indeed HAD gone insane. After all, weren't we taught that all life is sacred? Then I shook in disgust when I realized that I would have done the exact same thing just a minute ago.

It was at that point that Yang got up, shouting "You killed my brother, you bastard! Now I'm gonna kill you!" But he never got the chance. He lunged at me, but I sidestepped the blow and made a quick chop to his neck, instantly knocking him out. When he fell to the ground, a date began to appear on the back of his neck.

And then, we were out of there.


	9. Chapters 20 and 21

20

After the fight, it didn't take us long to reach the tunnel. We were practically at the entrance to begin with, and once we were in, we took of and headed south as fast as our wings would carry us. It wasn't often you found a tunnel large enough to accommodate my sixteen foot wingspan, let alone the seventeen foot wings of my brother right beside. Okay, we didn't. Instead, we flew one in front of the other, and about a kilometre away, something caught my eye.

There was a door in the wall of the tunnel, and something was compelling me to open it. I then searched through Timeline's memories, and I found out why. It was the armoury. We could stock up here.

I chose a nine millimetre semi-automatic handgun, and packed it into a bag with a silencer, and about fifty cartridges of twenty rounds each. My brother on the other hand took a futuristic looking assault rifle, and enough ammo to last him a very long time. I realized that as an Eraser, he would have been trained in the use of such a weapon, so I didn't bother to ask questions. Something then again caught my eye. A glint of light pointed me towards the far corner of the room.

Sitting beside an intricately designed scabbard was the most beautiful sword I had ever seen, and I had seen some real beauties.

The blade was an oddity in this day and age. It was a metre long, genuinely forged over an open flame, and on an anvil, obviously tempered, of some material that I was unfamiliar with, and damn, it was sharp. I took a piece of paper out of my pocket, and placed it on the blade, and it simply fell in two. The hilt was no less fantastic, and when I picked it up, it seemed to have been made exclusively for my grasp. It was strong and held a beautiful golden hue, and the rubies intricately placed near the blade seemed to make the blade to stand out even more.

I couldn't resist. I modified the scabbard to fit between my wings, and took the blade with me. It was underneath my shirt, while still being able to draw and sheathe it quickly, and we were again on the move.

21

I knew the path was going to be long, but I never imagined the time it would take. About an hour after we left the armoury, I was getting bored, and I broke out into song. It was a song that had been released to the radio just a few months ago, but seemed to match my brothers life perfectly right now.

"I can't escape this hell."

My brother heard me, and began to join in.

"So many times I've tried.

But I'm still caged inside.

Somebody get me through this nightmare,

I can't control myself."

We began to slow down, so we could hear better over our wings. I then realized that my brothers tone of voice sounded surprisingly like that of Adam Contier

"So what if you can see

the darkest side of me?

No one will ever change

this animal I have become.

Help me believe

it's not the real me.

Somebody help me tame this

a...

...ni...

...mal. (this animal, this animal)

I can't escape myself.

So many times I've lied.

But there's still rage inside.

Somebody get me through this nightmare,

I can't control myself.

So what if you can see,

the darkest side of me?

No one will ever change

this animal I have become.

Help me believe

it's not the real me.

Somebody help me tame

this animal I have become.

Help me believe

it's not the real me.

Somebody help me tame this

a...

...ni...

...mal."

Here is when I stopped, but he continued on. It was like there was something, probably his own soul, compelling him to finish.

"Somebody help me through this nightmare,

I can't control myself.

Somebody wake me from this nightmare,

I can't escape this hell.

(This animal, this animal, this animal)

So what if you can see,

the darkest side of me?

No one will ever change

this animal I have become.

Help me believe

it's not the real me.

Somebody help me tame

this animal I have become.

Help me believe

it's not the real me.

Somebody help me tame this

a...

...ni...

...mal.

This animal I have become."

When he finished, it was as though time had jumped forwards, for we were already at the door to the Institute of Higher Living.

* * *

The Lyrics are obviously to Animal I Have Become by Three Days Grace, which still fits into the timeline: The album was released in February 2006, and the song itself being a single since mid 2005. These are property of Sony BMG and Three Days Grace.

The Institute of Higher Living, and Erasers belong to James Patterson.

Everything else is mine.


	10. Chapters 22 to 24

_**PART THREE**_

**From Subway to Sewer to Surface**

22

We had stopped moving, if only to open the door, when I heard a sound. Okay, it was several sounds at once, echoing from down the tunnel. There were at least two more sets of wings, and something unfamiliar, moving quickly at a steady pace, like a dog... What was it? Claws? Hooves? And it's incredible that anything was able to keep up with us on foot, considering that we were flying at speeds of around one hundred eighty, to two hundred kilometres an hour.

In other words, damn fast.

I turned around, to look where the sounds were coming from, and quickly found my answer. I was definitely right about the wings, with two human-avian hybrids rapidly setting up for a landing, but the third one surprised me.

What does the term "Human-Equine Hybrid" mean to you?

23

I couldn't resist. We just had to get closer to the centaur. The one thing I never honestly expected to see, and that's saying something for a kid with wings. The oldest of the trio, a boy of about seventeen with cardinal red wings spoke first. "I never expected an Eraser to help get us out of that hell. I saw what you did to those bastards back at the lab. In my opinion, they deserved to die, but seriously, dude, what did you have to pay him to make him turn?"

"Excuse my brother," said the other bird-kid, a girl of about sixteen, with startlingly black wings. "We've been cooped up in there for so long, that he seems to have forgotten his manners. I'm Raine, and this is Jace." I took note of their names. "The centaur we decided to call Pan." I coughed, hiding a chuckle. "I know what you're thinking. Greek mythology, Pan was a faun, yada yada yada, but it just seemed to fit."

The kid, Pan, whispered quietly, "what are manners?" when I realized that he would never, ever have a chance at a proper education. I suddenly felt sorry for the kid. Mind you, I wouldn't mind having his running speed. Seriously, no one else I have ever seen has been able to run like I can fly.

Aaron then spoke up. "He didn't pay me anything. I don't have much time left, and I wanted to do something to redeem myself. After all, what can Itex do at this point? Kill me? I'm going to die anyway, and I've nothing left to lose. As for why he's with me now, and was back in the lab, he's my brother, in every sense of the word. I'm Aaron, and the other winged freak is Terry. The Erasers who we fought back at the lab were the ones who dragged us into this mess." I then proceeded to explain my life, how I was changed right after birth by a version of myself from an alternate time line, and how we had lived together with our family.

I omitted my parents deaths, when the twin Erasers came and kidnapped my brother, but included my alternate self returning to assist me in getting him back. When I was done speaking, at the two month time gap that was when I was comatose, my brother took over.

He told of his training, of his transformation, of the horrible tests he had watched performed on the various recombinants, and most of all, of his plan to escape. He understood that I didn't want them to know that those Erasers had killed our parents, so he stayed silent about that. When he finished, everyone was still, and we all seemed to have an understanding. They were going to stay with us for a while, and we were going to build an army, and fight back.

24

When I entered the Institute, I expected there to be a fight. In fact, I was sort of disappointed when there wasn't. The place was a dump. There was mess everywhere, but at least there were no people around. Pan suddenly began to speak.

"This was a lab once, until late last year, when a group of six avian hybrids came, and released as many of the experiments as possible. A few months later, the released hybrids returned, led by another bird-kid. They left none alive." Wow. Dark. Could these kids really have been out for revenge that badly? And how was Pan able to tell us al this, when he hadn't even been outside of the lab in his life?

But there were still people there.


	11. Chapters 25 to 27

**A/N Many thanks and virtual cookies to billy morph, who allowed me to use his characters Rainbow and Mir from his story ****/s/3148498/1/TheFreed****. (copy and paste that onto address bar right after .net, and there's an underscore representing a space in The Freed. I've forgotten how to work HTML)Also, The Institute belongs to James Patterson. All else is mine.**

25

Apparently, the Institute wasn't as empty as we thought at first. I was beginning to hear hushed voices amongst the rubble, but I couldn't make out what they were saying. So I turned to mind scanning.

_They came from the tunnel_ thought one. More thoughts came: _They have wings, and one of them's a horse! Wow! There are so many._ _Is that an Eraser with them?_ And then one voice stood out to me in particular. _Are they from Itex?_ This felt like a little girl, no older than seven years old. I relaxed, and stopped invading peoples minds, when someone spoke up.

"Another psychic, huh?" It was a boy of about ten, but there was something odd about the way he sounded. I saw Jace mouth 'Psychic?' "Guys, it's cool to come out. These guys are on our side."

That was when I saw him. Of course he couldn't speak normally. His mouth was hooked up to something that looked like a scuba suit, but it wasn't air that was coming out of the mouthpiece. He was covered with scales, and his neck seemed wet. When I looked closer, I could see why. There were flaps of skin, presumably gills, that were dropping the water, or something like it, on a regular basis, which led to the assumption that he had no lungs.

"I also wouldn't take another step forwards, if I were you. Look down, and you'll see why." I did, and was horrified. There were human skeletons lying there: These guys had the place booby trapped, and obviously quite efficiently, although when I looked closer, I could have sworn I saw a trip wire.

And then I saw the other recombinants.

26

One of them was furry, with leathery flaps joining the arms to the body. Another looked similar to an Eraser, but instead of the standard grey fur, it was red. Yet another was limbless, like a snake with a human face. A question popped into my mind.

"Who's in charge here?" I asked, but I could never have expected the answer I heard.

"They are," said the fish boy, his hand pointing right at us.

27

Two kids, a boy and a girl, suddenly appeared seemingly out of nowhere behind us, but from what I've learned in my science class, teleportation is physically impossible. Mind you, a lot in my life is, if you consider an evil corporation messing around with peoples genetics, creating freaks of nature and science on a regular basis.

"And who the hell are you?" Jace asked, after he recovered his wits. I wondered how he could be surprised with all he's been through in the lab. The two kids looked relatively normal, but for some reason, I couldn't pin their ages. Their faces appeared young, but they were way too tall, maybe 6' 4", or 5".

The girl ignored Jace, though I was surprised when her eye colour changed for a second, to a fiery red, before returning to what they were before. "I don't really trust you, but I guess if Gil — yes, that's the fish boy's name — does, then I guess we'll have to let you in. Mir, you know what to do." The boy disappeared again, and we heard a number of clicks around us, after one such, I saw the trip wire slacken. "You have five seconds, and I suggest you move to safety," the girl said.

So we did, and a few seconds later, more clicks were heard through the room, but Mir wasn't doing anything. He had already reappeared next to us. "The traps re-arm themselves," the boy explained quietly, eyes going pink. I deduced that the eyes changed colour due to emotions. He seemed a little shy.

"I'm sorry if we were being rude," the girl said with a hint of sarcasm in her voice. "I'm just going to say that we've had some very bad experiences in the past. I'm Rainbow." She held out her hand for a handshake, to complete the greeting.

I accepted it, and said, "don't worry about sarcasm. I'm more than willing to dish it out myself. I'm Terry, and this is Jace, the girl's name is Raine, the horse thing is called Pan, and finally, the Eraser is my brother, Aaron," pointing at them as I went. And I began to smile. A thought appeared in my head, but I blocked that thought from Gil.

I had found my army.

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	12. Chapters 28 to 30

**You know the deal by now, but I'll reiterate.**

**The Institute and Erasers belong to James Patterson. Rainbow and Mir from "The Freed" belong to billy morph. All else is mine.**

**Also, I hope that I kept Rainbow in character. If you read this, billy, Please review.**

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28

After we were in, Rainbow gave us a tour around the building, although there wasn't much. One thing to note, though. They had gotten rid of the cages, and replaced them with hospital beds, complete with curtains around them for privacy, although with me, they wouldn't do much good, if you can remember from a few chapters back, before my coma.

When we reached what they had dubbed the "Command Centre," a small room with a few computers, Rainbow stopped to tell us that there was no actual system of government in the group.

"We, Mir and I that is, came here a few months ago, and found a battle going on. A whole bunch of kids who had been somehow freed from their cages fighting against a large group of Erasers, so we decided to assist them. There was a kid who was not so different from you, Terry, who had managed to rile them up, and get them to fight against those who had created them." She seemed to look at me a bit closer. "In fact, if I didn't know any better, I would say that you and him were the same person, but it can't be true. I watched him die, or at least saw him get shot. We don't know what happened to him after that, though. He just disappeared, and not like we do. Mir and I just camouflage, but he was completely gone. I'm pretty sure that he's dead, but there are others here who aren't so sure." I then determined that I wouldn't tell her about my ability to travel through time anytime soon.

"In any case, we won the battle, and the Erasers retreated, but we made sure that they wouldn't be able to come back. Mir, who's smarter than he looks, set up the traps, which are actually quite ingenious. You've already seen the results. I won't bore you with the specifics, but let's just say that they would fool Indiana Jones.

"Combined with the fact that we can go aboveground, and blend in easily into a crowd even without natural camouflage, for food and supplies, these kids just seemed to begin to call us leaders, although I have never thought of us so. As you may have already guessed, Mir is quite shy. But we still take care of them as best we can, and they do whatever they can to help. It's tough holding off those goddamned Erasers, no offence, Aaron." She finished, and it made me wonder how she had managed to keep these kids together for so long, but then it occurred to me. Trust.

"None taken," He replied. "But what about your eyes? If you go to the surface, people would notice those changing, right?"

The reply was simple. "We learned to keep that under control ages ago."

And that was that.

29

It didn't take long for me to find an empty bed, and when I did find it, I was told it was unoccupied by another kid in the room. With that, I laid down, and fell asleep.

_There was fighting. We were attacking the institute, we being myself and several of the mutants I had freed. I heard a gunshot, and saw Rainbow gasp. Where did she come from, I was wondering, when everything went black._

30

I woke to the sound of footsteps approaching me, accompanied by the sound of water, splashing against the floor. It was Gil. I had chosen a bunk near the back, in order to keep a low profile, and gotten a good night's rest, or at least it felt like it. And that dream... It didn't feel like a dream. It felt more like a memory.

Gil didn't seem to happy with me, however. There was just a general feeling of anger where he walked. And then he opened the curtain.

"What's this about an army?"

Shit.

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**Okay, forget what I said before. Everyone must review, not just billy.**


	13. Chapters 31 to 33

**They're in the sewer this chapter, so don't expect much eloquence from anyone :P**

**Disclaimer: Do I really have to repeat that again? Okay I will. The Institute and erasers belong to JP, and Rainbow and Mir belong to Billy Morph. All else is mine.**

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31

About twenty minutes after my confrontation with Gil, I was standing at the sewer entrance to the Institute, about to lead a team of fliers to Toronto, to begin a two pronged assault against Itex. And no, I don't know how it happened.

I'm thinking that Gil actually liked the idea, and relayed it to Rainbow, who pretty much showed us the door when I said that I knew where the hell the tower entrance was. Apparently, she'd had the idea for a while then, but was unable to find someone suitable to lead the second squad.

The plan, as I knew it, was that everyone who could fly was to attack from the north, while those land-locked would use the tunnels, arming themselves along the way, and strike from the south. It seemed sound to me, but it was going to take a while to get out of New York unnoticed. And let's not forget Murphy's Law: If anything can go wrong, it will, and at the worst possible time.

And Murphy hates me.

32

My team was standing beside me at the entrance to the sewer system of New York city. Along with myself, Aaron, Jace and Raine, there was the fuzzy girl from earlier, who I assumed was part bat, and a boy not with six limbs, like us birds, but eight, like a butterfly. In fact, his wings greatly resembled those of a butterfly, and there seemed to be something odd about his eyes. The pupils seemed to be segmented inside the iris, leading me to believe that he had compound eyes. It must be annoying finding clothes to fit him, what with two extra arms poking out of his chest, and the massive wings on his back. It was definitely going to be annoying getting them out of the city unnoticed.

Sarah and Eric were their names, respectively.

"This is Gil," said a voice in my head. According to Rainbow, the two of us were to remain in constant communication throughout the operation, supposedly to retain synchronization, which is absolutely vital when it came to a multi-pronged attack. I just think that she's paranoid, myself. "Can you hear me?"

I replied, as I was supposed to. "This is Terry, I'm reading you loud and clear, although I find this quite unnecessary."

"Whatever. Mir is lowering the traps now. Step through the door in five," I begun to brace myself for what I would see. "Four, three, two, one." And then the door was open.

33

I was almost instantly knocked out by the smell alone. While I knew we had no choice, I would definitely rather be away from all the shit I was smelling. When we stepped into the tunnel, we lingered for a second, to get used to the smell.

"Fuck, that's horrible!" That was Aaron speaking, and I felt sorry for him. He hadn't quite been able to morph back to human quickly enough, and when the door opened, he still had an Eraser's nose, and therefore, it's amplified sense of smell. There was very little light coming down from the surface, but even that much meant it was still daytime, and therefore, not the best time to get to the surface. But we couldn't stay in the damn sewer. The smell was getting worse by the second.

Sarah spoke up then, obviously eager to get out of there. "There's a maintenance tunnel about five yards to the left, and I think it connects to the subway system."

"How the hell do you know that?" Jace asked, although it seemed obvious. So I answered him.

"Bats use echolocation in the dark, genius." The tunnel door was unlocked, so we got in easily. I'd rather be anywhere than in the sewer with the constant stink of shit everywhere.

But the tunnel was far from empty.

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**Reviews would be magnificent right now, but I don't need them. I'll keep writing anyway... With no feedback... Without knowing how to improve... hint hint**


	14. Chapters 34 to 36

**It's 1 AM and I just finished writing this chapter. I'm very tired, so some of it might not make sense. If it doesn't, I'll fix it later.**

**Disclaimer: I see no further need of repeating myself if you've read this far.**

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34

"Oh, you have got to be shitting me!" Raine cried, apparently sick of manners. The maintenance tunnel was filled with Erasers.

There was about twenty of them, but they didn't appear armed. Perhaps they were a scouting party. But we had opened the door, ind it wouldn't take long for them to notice us. Without thinking, I reached for my sword, and the next twenty or so seconds of my memory are blank.

Twenty or so seconds later, every last Eraser in the tunnel was either dead or severely wounded on the ground. And for some reason, I didn't care.

Call me crazy. I'm doing it myself. I then asked one of those that wasn't too badly injured just what this party was doing.

He replied, his voice racked with pain, "we were to relocate the entrance to one of Itex's old labs. You know, the one that you overrun," he said, with great emphasis on the you. "That's right. You were there, Line, though I don't know how. According to the scientists, after we retreated, you were in a coma in one of our cages the whole time." I couldn't believe my ears, but I held this information from Gil. Just in case it was true. "I wouldn't believe it either, until I saw you open the tunnel, and drew that damn sword."

That was the confirmation I needed. After hearing that, I couldn't leave the bastard alive. So I drew my handgun and put him out of his misery.

35

"I guess I'm not the only one whose changed," said Aaron, his voice shaky with fear. But I didn't care. I simply ignored him, moved the group along the tunnel, following the wall.

I sent a report to Gil, containing the details of the party, and told them to prepare for an attack while we were away. Itex is prepared to take the Institute back at any cost.

I had just finished the report, when the door came into view.

36

Jace opened the door, but when he peeked out, he nearly got his head taken off by an oncoming train, saved at the last second by Sarah, who had seen it coming via echo.

"Damn," said Eric, "We're gonna have to get off the rails fast!" It didn't take long to find a safe ledge to rest on.

It was about five hundred metres down, and surprisingly large. It was an old boarding platform that had long been out of use. It was roomy enough to hold all of us comfortably with our wings outstretched, so that's got to be something. The only thing we needed now was food. I hadn't had a decent meal in months, and I'm betting the other's aren't faring so well either in that department. So I took the more normal looking ones, being Raine, Jace, and myself, and went further down the tracks, looking for a restaurant, or a camp, or something.

And then we found what we were looking for.

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**Now Review! Review as if you're life depended on it! (the chorus to Inside the Fire comes to mind)  
**


	15. Chapters 37 to 39

37

On another platform a few kilometres down, there indeed was a camp. And it was much bigger than any of us had ever expected.

It seemed that a large group of the city's homeless population had gathered together with the bright idea of taking refuge underground. Here they have the benefit of shelter from the elements, and someone had managed to get the heating system running, which was a huge relief.

We had folded our wings underneath our shirts before we approached, but that didn't stop us from being noticed. Two of the hobos even came up to us asking, "who the hell are you?"

"Just a bunch of kids, looking for food," Jace said, finally remembering that he didn't have to swear every other sentence.

"We set up camp a few platforms down, and we need supplies for a while." Raine was smart. Together, the siblings were doing all the work of coming up with a lie for me. After all, there's no better lie than a half-truth.

"Yeah," the older one said, " There have been two other groups over the past year and somehow, you remind me of them. But for some strange reason, they weren't looking for food, or even shelter for that matter. They were looking for a computer of all things." The old man shrugged. "Kids these days. Always relying on technology."

"Anyway," the other guy put in, "there's food in the back. Take all you want. We can always get more. I'd be wary around Mike though. He's getting paranoid these days, what with everyone messing around with his laptop."

"We'll keep that in mind," I assured them, while moving the group along.

38

It didn't take us long to find the supplies. In fact, we would have gotten to them much sooner had no one gotten in our way, but of course someone did, and I'm guessing by the laptop under his arm that this was the person that the guys out front told us to be wary about.

"Oh, great," he said, immediately beginning to complain. "More strangers. You want to screw with my computer as too? Huh? Do ya?" I wasn't in the mod for wasting time like this. After all, we needed to get out of the city ASAP, so we could get on with the assault. Unfortunately, he obviously wasn't going to leave us alone.

While he was pestering Raine, I casually reached over and pinched the base of his neck. I'm not sure how, but Mike, which was his name according to that hobo, was instantly out cold. He slumped to the ground, and I knew that he would be out for a couple of hours. He probably wouldn't remember the few minutes leading up to the event either, which was good. It meant that he wouldn't remember us.

There was much less commotion than I expected there would be.

I could have sworn that somebody thought _glad someone could do it._

39

We didn't take much... For us, anyway. We took what would last a normal person a week, which with our mutant metabolism, would only last one of us two days. And there were six of us. The food didn't last the afternoon. At least we finally had a decent meal.

On the way back, Jace flew closer to me and said, "I didn't know you could do that."

"Honestly," I replied, "I didn't either." He looked at me in confusion. "I'm serious. I just reached over and pinched him. I didn't know it would knock him out." He still looked confused, but he wisely let the matter rest.

We arrived at our platform, where Sarah was waiting patiently for our return. "I found a way to the surface," she said, as I landed clumsily, having not enough time to slow down. I immediately forgot about the conversation with Mike, which bit me in the ass later.

"Show me." So she did. She lead the three of us to a stair case, where Eric was waiting. There was a draft here, which meant there was an air flow coming down from the surface.

"Aaron's gone up, to check on things," Eric told us, as Aaron appeared at the top of the stairs, looking out of breath.

"Something's wrong," he said, when he reached the bottom.

That could not be good.

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**I had fun writing this, but methinks I need more people interested in this story. If you like it, review, and get someone else to read and review. Constructive criticism is always welcome.**

**Also, I know the cliffie is evil. Want to guess at just what is wrong?**


	16. Chapters 40 to 42

40

We were about to discuss what my brother had said when his stomach began to rumble. We were all hungry, so we decided to get back inside and take out our supplies.

"So what do you mean by something's wrong?" I asked him. For him to come back here so soon after finding a way to the surface after spending so long underground had to be bad.

He reached for a can of ravioli before saying, "It's empty."

Jace, thinking he was referring to the can said, "how could it be empty? The damn thing hasn't even been opened yet."

Ignoring Jace, Aaron continued by saying, "every street, every office, every goddamn house. It's all empty. It's like someone ordered a full scale evacuation, but I really can't see the reason."

"But that's perfect for us," Sarah told us, with a grin wide across her furry face. "Isn't it? Doesn't it mean that we don't have to wait for dark in order to leave?" I had to agree with her there, but something was fishy, and it wasn't just the can of salmon that Eric had opened.

41

Five minutes later, we were standing on an empty street in the middle of Manhattan—or wherever the hell we are. I don't know New York, being a Toronto guy myself—after having voted wether we should wait for dark, and follow our original plan, or leave now and see some daylight. Daylight won by a landslide, with only one person voting against. To avoid embarrassment, I won't say who.

There seemed to be a REALLY black cloud coming in from the north, and my thoughts turned to this: _They wouldn't evacuate New York City for weather... Would they?_ We decided it wouldn't be best to fly with these conditions on their way, but something was odd about the cloud, though I couldn't put a finger on what.

And then it was on me, just like that. I didn't feel like I was being constricted from the inside, so we were in a high pressure zone. There couldn't possibly have been a storm on the way. It must have been something else. Something flying.

Erasers.

42

My first thought was to take to the air, and fly in the opposite direction, but I knew we couldn't do that. If we did we'd be spotted for sure, and be captured, or possibly killed. So I looked over my options. Return to the subway. No. To risky, and counterproductive. Next, hide in a building, the taller the better. Yes, and lucky for us, we were only a block or so away from the tallest building in the whole city.

The Empire State Building.

While we were built for flying, except for Aaron of course, we could still run faster than the average human being, so it took us about five minutes to reach the famous tower. Murphy must be giving me a break today, because the doors were unlocked. The elevators were down, so we just took the stairs. Again, being faster that the average man, we were in the upper levels in no time.

And by that time, the Erasers were swarming around the top of the building, as if they were tracking us. Wait a minute... Shit!

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**Evil cliffie! Don't worry, there's more on the way! You'll certainly enjoy what happens next, or at least, I hope you will!**

**Don't forget to press the nice little button there that says GO. Come on. You know you wanna.**


	17. Chapters 43 to 45

**Finally! This took WAY longer than expected due to MASSIVE computer troublesAs a result, you guys might get a little bit pissed off at me for the filler. Here's some good news, though. Rainbow's back!**

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_**PART FOUR**_

**The Battle of Lake Ontario**

43

How the hell did I not think of this before? Of course Itex wasn't going to let one of their precious goddamn Erasers go free without something to monitor them. Shit!

"What's wrong?" asked Raine, as observant as ever. I didn't want to tell them what I thought. After all, it was my brother, and the fact that he was an Eraser was putting all our lives at risk. Hold on a sec... The fact that he was an Eraser...

"I've got it!" I cried aloud, not entirely meaning to.

"Got what?" Jace asked. "Got that we're all gonna die?"

I could tell he was both pissed off, and in a panic, but surprisingly I wasn't the one who did something about it. In about two seconds Raine had walked over to him, and there was a resounding SMACK. "Let him speak," she said. She had slapped him faster than my eyes could register, which is honestly and truly saying something.

After he regained his ground, I answered him. "I've got our way out of this."

44

Rainbow was pissed. That is, even more so than usual. She had thought that they would be safe for a while, but now with the message that had just been relayed from Gil, she wasn't so sure. All she knew was that this whole ordeal would finally be over, and in short order. Terry had finally sent the message to begin the long march to the lab at which a number of the mutants under her care were created and tortured like guinea pigs.

However, before she could, there was another issue that had to be resolved. According to Gil, some of the older recombinants had begun to lose trust in her, and it would cause no end of trouble for a rift to form in her army this close to the end of the battle.

"You say that some of them don't trust me any more, Gil. Why?" She asked the question, although she already had a guess as to what the answer was: She thought it was her youth. She thought that they had started to believe that because the siblings were younger than most of those that they were leading, that they were unfit to lead.

She would have to prove them wrong.

Of course, she had forgotten to take into account that she had already proved it to them time and time again. If she were a little more experienced with large groups, she would have realized that it was Terry, who seemed quicker to take the initiative, who had knocked the older members off balance. They thought that while he was actually doing something, their own leaders were just sitting on their asses.

But she didn't have more experience, and now the seeds of societal collapse were sown.

This would be the first, and the last full scale battle that they ever mounted.

45

Elsewhere, a man is quietly laughing to himself, and wondering exactly where the man from the future went wrong, creating such a stupid experiment. After all, he couldn't seem to figure out that he was being tracked by his sword. He probably thought that his brother had a trace on him!

His first priority, however, was to eliminate the virus that someone planted in his system. It was deleting all his files! If it were to let it be, it would destroy the whole of Itexicon's network! Of course, he never expected that the young brat would come up with a counter for the Erasers that he sent to New York about a minute before the virus was randomly planted. He had no idea of the progress they made at this point.

No, all he knew was that this uprising would soon be over, and that these mutants would finally be brought down for good. In the meantime, he prepared to begin the hacking process that would alter the virus' programming and turn in back on it's creator, not knowing that the computer that sent it was no longer connected to any network, anywhere.

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**I hate having to constantly remind you: REVIEW!!!**


	18. Chapters 46 to 48

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight... shutting up now. We're back to the action!**

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46

Here was the plan. Aaron was going to pretend that he had been playing us all along, and bringing us in for capture. If that didn't work, Sarah gave us all earplugs. I hoped that I'd never have to find out why.

We were lucky enough to find some ropes to bind us together. Just who would have rope in the Empire State building was a complete mystery. It was an office building, right? Anyway, we put in our earplugs before binding our hands. It seemed like a good idea. Aaron's were understandably larger than ours. He did have an Eraser's senses, after all.

After we were bound we stood out on the roof for a few seconds, preparing for what we knew we had to do. It was probably the hardest thing most of us had to do in our lives. Even pretending to surrender was going to take a toll on us.

Heaving a sigh, Aaron jumped out into open air, followed by five other bodies, and we snapped out our wings out simultaneously.

It was tough, pretending not to enjoy it.

47

We met the mass of flying furry bodies head on, and slowed to a hover. The Erasers closest to us immediately started to ask Aaron questions, and not necessarily ones he could answer. I scanned their minds and it appeared that they had never intended to let us go without a fight. I looked at the faces around me, and everyone started to appear worried. I gave Sarah a wink.

It was time for plan B.

I didn't know what plan B was, but I soon found out. Erasers in my line of sight suddenly began to fall from view, and Aaron had a pained look on his face. I looked back to Sarah, and noticed that her mouth was open, and her fur was starting to look damp from what I was certain was sweat. She must have been screaming at a pitch that no one but Eraser's and herself could hear, and at such a decibel level to make anyone in the area not wearing ear-plugs fall from the sky.

There were about ten enemies left when Sarah herself started to collapse from exhaustion. I released my bonds—hail to the slipknot—and caught her before she could hit the ground. She was surprisingly light. I set her down on the roof of a nearby skyscraper, and returned to join my squad, who had also undone the knots on their ropes.

Ten against five, meaning two to one. Not bad odds for us.

48

I read the newspaper in Toronto later, and found out that they called the incident in New York "A freak tornado." Yeah, I guess you could call it that. Here's what really happened. It was actually over REALLY quickly. There I was, itching for a fight, when all of a sudden, Eric flew out in front of all of us.

Then he flapped.

He flapped HARD. Hard enough to send bursts of wind towards the Erasers. Hard enough to have that wind knock them into the nearby buildings, and hard enough to send them careening to the city street below. I couldn't believe my eyes. I stared at Eric, wondering how the hell he did that with such flimsy looking wings, but I decided to let it be.

Then Aaron said, "Didn't I kill you already?" Nothing could have spooked me more than those five words.

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**I know it's a little short, but don't forget. REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**


	19. Chapters 49 to 51

49

Indeed, when I looked around, I saw a mass of white fur standing right where I left Sarah a few moments ago. Yin was back from the dead. I couldn't understand it at all. I had watched the albino die and yet here he was, standing on a rooftop in New York. "I notice you're surprised to see me," he said with the slightest bit of condescension in his voice: he knew exactly what he had done, and he was practically bragging about it. I probably would be too if I had escaped from death's clutches when I was already in them.

"Well it's not often that someone who I left dead on the floor in a secret laboratory." What? It was the best I could come up with in such short notice.

He sighed, seeming annoyed, and rubbed his temples with his hand. "I'm going to make this simple for you," his voice suddenly more serious. "Aaron comes here, or the girl dies." It was only then that I noticed what was happening, brought to my senses by the thought of imminent death.

He had bound Sarah for real, and was holding her hostage.

And Aaron was flying forward to meet him, as fast as he could.

50

I tried to catch him. I really did. But right before I could I was tackled mid-flight from the side, and I realized that once again, the fight was on, and with our trump cards out of the bag it wasn't going to be pretty. I already had two Erasers in position to try to take me out, while Jace and Raine, and Eric were busy taking care of their own opponents.

I noticed a shadow above me, and I ducked just in time to see yet another Eraser dive past where I had just been. It seemed to me that they REALLY wanted me down, if not dead. I then decided to fold my wings and land hard on the Eraser as he tried to flip up and get back above me. He was unconscious almost immediately.

As I leaped off of him and again unfurled my wings to stay aloft, I noticed Eric delivering a devastating series of blows, finishing with a hard blow to both temples. That Eraser wasn't going to wake up in a while. Or ever. _Damn, it must be handy to have four arms,_ I thought as Eric flew over to attack one of the Erasers that had been covering my movements. The poor wolf hybrid went down in an instant.

The last Eraser showed a trait that I had never seen before in their kind: Cowardice. When I turned to look at him, he turned around and fled, with his tail literally between his legs. It would have been funny if I didn't have more to do. There was still my brother to look after.

I turned around just in time to see him fall.

51

"No!" I cried as I tried to catch up to him. He had fallen behind a building, and the albino puffball was diving in pursuit. I couldn't catch them. I tried. There was a loud crash as Yin caught up to Aaron's descent and threw him into the ground even harder.

After that, I could barely stand to look.

Aaron's body was twisted around in so many ways that should never have been possible; limbs twisted right around, bone poking out at impossible angles. He was groaning; he was still alive, which made the image all the worse. "You know what they say," Yin chided after noticing me hovering above him. "Payback's a bitch." That was the sentence that sealed the Eraser's fate.

Jace and Raine were flanking him now. There wasn't enough space for him to take off. I reached back into my bag and took out my handgun as I landed in front of him. It would be so easy to pull the trigger, to send this miserable excuse for a living being to the hell that he deserved. And yet, something inside me faltered. There was something about the situation that was staying my hand.

Fate would not let me kill this man.

So instead, I did the next best thing. I knocked him out with a quick strike across the temple with the butt of my gun, and ran off into the street, in the direction I'm certain was North. Eric was now carrying the unconscious Sarah. He followed me through the city, with Raine close behind him. I was wondering where Jace was when I heard him shout, "What the fuck? He's gone!"

That stopped all of us in our tracks. "What?" asked Eric, who was bearing a quizzical expression just like the rest of us.

Jace caught up with the group, saying, "Aaron's gone. I turned to take a piss, and when I looked back, he had disappeared. I don't know what's going on here, but I can tell it's something big," he said, echoing my own thoughts.

I then thought, _But just how big?_

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_**So there you have it. A nice, action packed chapter to keep you faithful readers(if I have any) satisfied. And guess what. This ISN'T the climax. There will certainly be more to come, but don't forget to REVIEW!**


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